There’s no let-up to the fight
to clear the extensive backlog
of letters of authority (LOA)
for importers – with just
over 1 600 long-overdue
applications recorded in
December.
The
problem is
that these
letters are
required
to enable
importers
to have
their goods
released by
customs. But
the National
Regulator
for Compulsory
Specifications (NRCS),
which issues them, has a
waiting time of anything up
to, and often way over, six
months.
And, while the NRCS
promised to cut this to a
maximum of 120 days by
the end of last year, it was
left to minister of trade and
industry, Dr Rob Davies, to
amend this to end-March.
Fighting a worthy
battle to get this timeconsuming
delay shortened
to manageable
proportions
has been the
Democratic
Alliance
(DA) MP
and shadow
minister for
trade and
industry,
Geordin Hill-
Lewis.
And the
latest news
from him to FTW is that
“following sustained
pressure” from the DA,
chambers of commerce
and hundreds of individual
businesses over the course of
months, the parliamentary
portfolio committee on trade
and industry conducted an
oversight inspection at the
NRCS offices in Pretoria
this week, from Monday to
Wednesday.
Speaking to FTW last
week before our copy
deadline, Hill-Lewis
said: “During this visit,
I will personally be
interrogating the NRCS’s
persistent failure to meet
any of its commitments
and deadlines, and the
continuing collapse in
service delivery standards
at the NRCS. The new
commitment of the end
of March 2017 is nonnegotiable,
and I will also be
able to assess in person their
progress in meeting this
deadline.”
This is bated-breath
time for importers, many
of whom are in financial
straits because of these
inordinate delays in getting
import products approved
by the NRSC.
INSERT AND CAPTION
The new commitment
of the end of
March 2017 is nonnegotiable.
– Geordin Hill-Lewis
NRCS to face tough questions on persistent delays
Comments | 0
